Welcome from the Director

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Dr. David Cratis Williams was recently appointed Director of the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies. Here is his message of welcome:

Welcome!

We are glad that you are taking a few minutes to explore the website of the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies (SCMS), and it is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies! The SCMS is a vibrant hub within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. With an internationally known and award-winning faculty, the School provides opportunities for study for those interested in a wide array of human communicative activities, ranging from face-to-face human interactions to mediated communication to computer animation.

In addition to their coursework, students in the SCMS become involved with many aspects of co-curricular life at FAU. From public debates and Speakers' Corner events, to participation in FAU's Agora Project promoting understanding, tolerance, and civility in public discourse, to film festivals and exhibitions, to student clubs such as the Film Clubs and Zeta Iota (the FAU chapter of the national communication honorary society Lambda Pi Eta), to digital media initatives such as Wavelengths and South Florida Journal, to cooperation in student run media such as The University Press, OWL Radio, or OWL TV, SCMS students have myriad opportunities to apply skills learned in the classroom in their engagement in campus and community life. Many of these co-curricular activities fall under the umbrella of the SCMS's commitment to the American Democracy Project, a national initiative promoted by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in cooperation with The New York Times that is dedicated to the reinvigoration of citizenship and civic engagement among students in public colleges and universities. The SCMS takes the mission of the American Democracy Project to heart, and much of our curriculum explores the inter-relationships among human communication activities and public life. The Communication Studies B.A. is built around issues of communication and civic life.

The SCMS enjoys a unique cooperative, public-private alliance with The Living Rooms Theaters, a four-theater complex located with the School in FAU's new Culture and Society Building. Commercials theaters by night, the Living Room Theaters serve as important teaching spaces during the day for our film classes. The cooperative relationship affords our film students opportunities to study the film business from multiple perspectives.

As a graduate from the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, you would have many career options. Most of our graduates move directly into the job market, but many others go on to graduate school, law school, or other professional advanced degree programs. The opportunities for SCMS graduates to take theoretical, analytic, and critical perspectives and combine them with performance and production skills opens many career doors. And this is not surprising. A poll of 330 industry leaders conducted by the University of Phoenix revealed that 96% of executives ranked communication and interpersonal skills as the most valuable traits for employees, and the American Association of Colleges and Universities conducted a poll of major U.S. employers that showed that employers want colleges and universities to increase their focus on written and oral communication,critical thinking and analytical reasoning, and concepts and developments in technology, including of course communication technologies. Graduates from the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies fit this profile of what employers increasingly seek.

As you look around our website and investigate our programs, we invite you to envision yourself as either an undergraduate major pursuing the rich array of curricular and co-curricular offerings available to you or as a graduate student specializing in either Communication Studies or Media, Technology, and Entertainment. In the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies, we enrich lives as well as careers.

Florida Atlantic University embodies a culture of strategic and collaborative community engagement that results in mutual benefit to the institution and the diverse internal and external communities that it serves.